Under Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

the force of a shotgun blast, and he flew backward from the impact.
    “Zack, nooo !”
    Shouts, screaming. Drowned by the storm as the truck slid free of its perch. He tumbled with it, falling, falling. Saw the bridge disappear.
    The rear door banged shut as the SUV hit the river, hard, and rolled. He crashed around in the interior, along for the ride, and thought, Well, shit. There goes my brand-new glasses. Will insurance cover a new pair?
    Ice-cold water rushed in, filling the cabin. Dragging at the heavy protective clothing that would serve as his shroud if he didn’t get out. Before the water closed over his head, he managed to suck in a deep breath.
    The Explorer lurched once more, the sideways motion ending in a jarring halt as though it was butting up against something in the current. One of the bridge supports?
    Zack’s head, the entire right side of his face, throbbed with intense agony even shock and the freezing water couldn’t blot out. Disoriented, he groped for a window or door handle.
    Which way out? Where? Nothing but pitch-blackness.
    He searched, running his hand along the interior. Leather. A seat, but which one? The cumbersome gear weighed him down and must come off, but his need to reach freedom pushed him dangerously close to panic. Stay calm. Find the windshield, exit through the busted glass, then discard the coat. He shoved forward, hands out, but he was swimming blind. Totally turned around. Instead, he found a side window, the edge of a door.
    Zack yanked on the handle, pushed. The door wouldn’t budge, and panic knifed his chest. Swiveling in the opposite direction, he tried for another escape route. Seconds passed, maybe half a minute. His chances slipping away. He found another door, but by now his lungs burned. He needed air.
    He located a different handle. Pulled, pushed. Kicked the glass. All to no avail.
    His lungs screamed, his futile efforts to free himself slowing. As reality hit, horror electrified his brain.
    He wasn’t getting out of this alive.
    Two hours ago, he’d actually entertained giving up. Now he wanted desperately to live. Get involved with life again. To find out who’d taken a shot at Cori Shannon, and why. Maybe get to know her and . . . what?
    But fate had stolen those options from him.
    Please, God, I don’t want to die! Help me. . . .
    Precious air exploded from his lungs. Unable to stop the inevitable, he sucked in great gulps of brackish water. Clawed at the glass, the door. No use.
    His limbs grew heavy, refused to function any longer. His struggles ceased, the fight over. Consciousness began to fade, along with the pain.
    Besides his team, who would mourn his loss?
    Nobody. Not even his father.
    You’re a disappointment, boy. Wasting the superior intelligence God gave you on a city job, going nowhere.
    If he could, he’d laugh at the irony. His father had been right after all. And he couldn’t even blame his own tragic end on the old fucker’s debt to his dangerous friends.
    No time for regrets. No more fear. Only a strange lightness in his body as he finally accepted, let go.
    Zack smiled inside, raised a gloved middle finger in defiance.
    Get seven hundred fifty thousand dollars out of that, assholes.
    When he drifted into the gentle embrace of death, all he felt was relief.

3
     
    A tall firefighter yelled, “Zack, nooo!” He had the name TANNER printed across the back of his coat in reflective lettering. The grief and rage in his voice—and the others’ voices, as well—went through Cori like an arctic blast.
    Tanner started to yell orders. One of the team ran for the huge red engine, jumped inside, and started it. He pulled up near where her Explorer had gone over, and she wondered what they planned to do.
    Cori rushed to the mangled opening in the guardrail, stared in horror at the sight of her SUV sinking into the Cumberland River. With Zack Knight trapped inside. “Oh, my God!”
    “Please, stay back. In fact, why don’t you step over to